Questioning Centuries of Disservice to Big Momma; Mark 1:29-34 sermon

Rev. George Miller
Feb 4, 2018
Mark 1:29-34

This week there was an article about women in Iran who are taking off their traditional hijabs to protest the theocracy’s dress code.

Women were standing atop benches and utility boxes waving their head coverings, resulting in 2 arrests.

This is a huge deal and a grassroots movement that is non-violently speaking out against social codes that were instituted after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The women are wearing white clothing on Wednesdays as a way of saying that the enforcement of hair coverings are outmoded and infringe on their freedom of choice.

Freedom is a beautiful thing, and I celebrate those who have the courage to make themselves known, especially when the result can be imprisonment.

Many of us look upon the hijabs of the Islamic world and may not understand it, or dislike the way it seems to keep women in a certain role.

But - American Christianity has our own hijabs as well, meaning that there are ways we view women or treat them that can hide them.

Take for example, today’s reading. It’s one we’ve all heard before, but whose ears have we heard it through?

And if we were to view this story as it unfolded what would we actually see?

Because there is a good chance we have gotten this story wrong for far, far too long, and perhaps it is time to take its hijab off.

First, we start with the text before us.

We are told that right after Jesus and his 4 disciples leave the Synagogue, they make the way to Simon’s house.

Simon’s mother-in-law is sick in bed, so Jesus goes to the woman, takes her by the hands, lifts her up, and viola!, the fever is gone.

The mother-in-law serves them and that evening people bring those who are sick or demon possessed to Jesus so he can care and cast out.

The whole city is there, gathered around the door.

1st thing 1st: let’s talk about the mother-in-law and her healing.

I wonder if she actually wanted to be made well.

Think about it- did she ask Jesus to come into her sick bed and sit her up?

I ask this because I have a secret to share- I like being sick.

Being sick means I am free to lay on the couch during the day, watch TV, and not feel bad that I don’t have a nab thing to do.

Growing up, I came from a sturdy German-English family in which no one got sick because there was school to go to and work to do.

If you had a slight fever you pushed through.

My Mom, for example, did not take aspirin, so if she had a headache, she’d go into the bedroom, shut off the lights and lay down until it went away.

But if Mom was really sick, she had Dad go to the Chinese restaurant and get her a quart of wanton soup and an egg roll.

So for me, when I am sick, my go-to food is Chinese. If my throat hurts- rainbow sherbet. If my tummy aches- ginger ale.

If all 3- hey! It’s a soup-sherbert-soda kinda day, and that ain’t so bad.

So those few times I feel a fever coming on, or a bit of the chills, I embrace it, lay on the couch, pull the blanket over me, put on a DVD, order Chinese delivery, and I’m in my happy place.

I share this, because maybe, just maybe Simon’s mother-in-law didn’t mind being sick.

Maybe it gave Big Mama a chance to be off her feet, relax, get some sleep, and allow someone else to do the work for a change.

Maybe she was thinking to herself “I can’t wait for Simon to get home so he can get me some Wonton Soup and Schweppes ginger-ale!”

Maybe Big Momma was thinking “Finally! It’s my turn to be pampered and someone else is gonna take care of me!”

Maybe she was tired of cleaning their stanky fish, washing their funky clothes, and reminding Simon to leave the toilet seat down.

Maybe being sick meant that Momma finally had some “me-time.”

If so, then Jesus coming into her room and interrupting her rest was a really rotten thing to do.

Did he even ask if she wanted to be well? Shouldn’t she have had a choice in the matter?

What if she was like “Shoot! Now I gotta go back to work.”

And then, what about this whole service thing?

How did she serve them???

What exactly did she do?

Where do you picture Big Momma and what do you think she was doing?

Because if you notice, the author never says; the author never tells us.

But through the centuries people have had no problem putting a symbolic hijab on her and assuming that if she’s a woman she must have served them a meal.

Which could have been possible, especially in a culture in which hospitality was everything.

But we are not told. All we know is that she serves them.

What does it mean to serve?

In the original Greek, the word used here was diakoni, which is where we get the word “deacon” from.

Deacon means to serve, it can also mean to wait table.

Our ushers are acting as deacons today, as they meet and greet, hand out bulletins, take the offering, and help “wait” at the Communion Table.

Simon’s mother-in-law “deacons” Jesus and the disciples, but it may not be in the way we think.

To deacon also means to attend to the care and concern of a congregation.

So when the Caring Committee visits folks, calls, or sends cards, they are doing diaokoni.

To deacon also means to connect community needs with the resources that are available.

In other words, when the Shepherd’s Pantry provides people with food and flyers of upcoming events and lists of community resources, they too are doing diakoni.

Connecting those who are without to those who have what is needed, is a form of serving.

And in the Jewish community, there is a wonderful Yiddish word for a woman who gets involved in people’s lives and helps connect them to who and what they need.

She is called a Yenta, or in Broadway terms, “Hello, Dolly.”

For all we know, Big Mama could have been a matchmaker.

She could have been one of the original social media mavens, telling everyone she knew where they could go to get what they needed.

I imagine her walking through the town: “Hey Bobby- you got a boo-boo? Go to my house, there’s a guy named Jesus who will take care of you.”

“Hey Delores- you got a demon? I got the dude to make it depart!”

“Hey Frankie- you got a fever? Go to my home and Jesus will hook you up!”

Think about it- verse 32 tells us that by sunset people were bringing the sick to Jesus, and the entire town was there to watch.

How would a whole city know where to go unless there was someone to tell them so?

What if Simon’s mother-in-law was the one?

Think about what a disservice we may have done to this woman by assuming she only cooked them a meal, when she may have been the first evangelist, introducing an entire community to Christ?

Think about what a disservice we may have done to this woman by placing her behind pots and pans when she may have been Jesus’ original PR person?

Perhaps she was the Sam of the Synagogue.

Or she was the Maureen of Wynstone Lane.

Or the Pat of Lake Placid.

When we are told that Big Mamma serves Jesus and the disciples, it does not necessarily mean that she made them a hot cooked meal.

It could mean that she used her talents to reach out to community to tell folk where they could go for a cure and a cleansing.

She could have been a webmaster like Ruthie, or a songstress like Silvia, or vivacious like Vekasy…

She could have been the kitchen organizer like Kathy, because Lord knows women can cook a kick-butt meal and have a leadership position.

Maybe Simon’s mother-in-law did stay at home and wash their clothes or maybe she went out into the community.

Maybe she made them supper or maybe she scheduled the night’s appointments.

Maybe she Yenta-ed. Maybe she mended.

Who truly knows, but let’s not keep her in a hijab and assume housework and serving men a meal was the only thing she could have done.

And why does this matter?

Because when we look at scripture, really look at scripture, we see things that may have always been there that we get to know see and hear for the very first time, proving that God is indeed Still Speaking.

It matters because being able to approach scripture this way opens up the world of our faith, helping us realize just how radical Christianity is and just how boundary breaking an encounter with Christ could be.

It matters because when we begin to actually look at and to truly see the people of the Bible, we begin to see who we truly are, and just what we have the possibility to become.

It matters because the ability to worship and serve Jesus can be the most joyful, rewarding thing there is.

And if we allow Simon’s mother-in-law to do more than wear a hijab and do more than what our preconceived notions allow,

then we also free ourselves to remove restrictions that we or society have placed upon ourselves.

If we free Simon’s mother-in-law to serve Jesus in her own special way, then we are freed from what we think we can or cannot do for the glory of God’s heavenly kingdom.

By letting Big Mamma be free in Christ, then we are all also free indeed.

And that is a sweet, sweet thing.

Amen.